


I'm a Mountain Like You Said to Be

by wintercreek



Category: Legally Blonde (2001)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintercreek/pseuds/wintercreek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of Legally Blonde, Emmett has his own law firm; at the start of Legally Blonde 2 he's a professor at Harvard Law School. How does he get from point A to point B? With a little help from Elle and a shopping trip, of course!</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm a Mountain Like You Said to Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dracobolt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracobolt/gifts).



> Thanks to [my beta] (redacted) for betaing, my Ever-Patient Spouse for helping with brainstorming and for being ever-patient, and to Sarah Harmer for the title. Dracobolt, I hope you like it!

It wasn't that Emmett didn't take his fianceé's advice often. He did, to his great benefit: under Elle's tutelage he'd become a sharper dresser and had better cologne than he'd ever had before. It was just that he'd never thought of shopping as the antidote to a terrible day.

"Elle, I'm tired. I just want to stay home and mope." He turned his attention back to his open beer and waited for her to get the hint.

She didn't. "Emmett, this is important! You need to do something to move forward."

"I don't. I mean, I did. I found a management company to store the files; they're coming to get them on Monday. Then I just have to sell the furniture, clean the offices and turn in the keys. Oh yeah, and find someone to take over the lease." He rubbed his eyes. "This sucks. I hate having to close the firm."

"This city is full of lawyers, honey. I'm sure your firm would have succeeded in a smaller, less lawyer-saturated place." She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to be comforting.

Emmett jerked his head away irritably. "That doesn't help! I don't want to be successful in a smaller place. I want to be successful _here_, where you are. You've done so well for yourself, Elle, with your great job. I don't want you to have to marry some unemployed loser."

Elle perched herself on the arm of his chair, hands still in her lap. "You're not some loser," she said softly. "You're the man I love, and you're going to find something. Please don't sit here in the dark. Come to the mall with me, just for a little bit."

"Okay," he sighed and gave in. Emmett forced a smile and asked, "Do you think they'll have a brilliant career in my size?"

Smiling back, Elle replied, "Sweetheart, you'd be surprised what a good suit can do for you."

*

Elle left Emmett is search of something greasy while she cruised the mall, examining and discarding men's wear stores. When she'd found the perfect store, she fetched him from the food court. "All right, mister, no more chili cheese fries for now. I know they're comfort food, but I've found something better."

"I sincerely doubt that." Emmett dumped his fries and followed Elle nonetheless, finding himself surrounded by well-cut jackets and pants. The third suit he tried on was a navy blue that had Elle draping ties over his shoulders and soliciting opinions from the salespeople as to the best match.

The man in front of the next mirror over threw Emmett a sympathetic look. "Big occasion soom?"

Emmett shook his head. "Not really. I just started closing my firm today, and Elle thought a new suit would help cheer me up."

"It might," Elle piped up. "I always find that if I dress well it helps, even when things are going terribly. Not that things are going terribly! This is a small setback. It's really more of a direction change, don't you think?"

"I do," the man agreed. "And I think the red tie looks best with that suit." He turned his attention back to Emmett. "You said you were closing your firm. Law firm?"

Emmett nodded. He told the man about his career from law school to his first job with Callahan, including his role in Elle's impressive launch on to the legal scene and the events that had led to him starting his own firm. By the time he'd reached the unhappy present day, Elle had found him a charcoal grey suit in addition to the navy blue one and selected ties and cuff links for both. Emmett agreed to her choices and sent her off to the cash register, then turned to his new acquaintance. "Thanks for listening," he said. "It was good for me to talk out how I got to where I am, you know? Now if only I knew what to do next."

Smiling, the man held out his hand to shake Emmett's. "I think I might have a suggestion. Tony Cabresco, new Dean of Harvard Law." When Emmett's face reflected his surprise, Tony grinned wider and said, "We have an opening for a new instructor. Our 1Ls could use someone like you to mentor them. How's Tuesday for an interview?"

"Tuesday's great!" Emmett laughed with delight. "Thank you, thank you so much! That's a fantastic idea."

"I have a few good ones," Tony said. He held out his business card and took Emmett's in turn, then tilted his head toward Elle. "You'd better catch up to your lady, there. I'll see you Tuesday. Oh, and Emmett?" he added. "Wear one of your new suits. She's right about the importance of good grooming when everything looks hopeless."

Emmett looked fondly at Elle. "She's right about a lot of things."

*

Hanging his new suits carefully in their closet at home, Emmett called, "Elle?"

"In here, honey," she replied from the kitchen. When she surfaced a minute later she was carrying two glasses of wine. "To my wonderful fiancé," she toasted. "Who is so fabulous he gets job offers in clothing stores."

"To _my_ wonderful fianceé, who was responsible for getting me into that store," he replied. They clinked their glasses and sat on their bed to drink their wine. "Elle, what I wanted to say earlier was 'Thank you.' Thank you for-"

"For taking you shopping?" she broke in, chuckling. "I'm not sure you want to set that precedent."

Emmett shook his head. "No, I'm not sure I want to either. But that's not what I wanted to thank you for."

"It's not? But I haven't done anything else for you today." Elle furrowed her brow. "Have I?"

"You've done what you always do," Emmett told her. "You believed in me, and you loved me, and so today and every day I say 'Thank you' for that. I love you."

"Oh Emmett, I love you too." Elle leaned in to kiss him, and as she did he thought _Thank you_ one more time, for good measure.


End file.
